Scopely, a mobile game publisher owned by a Saudi royal investment fund, announced its $3.5 billion investment in Pokémon GO and its developer Niantic’s gaming business. Other games, such as Pikmin Bloom and Monster Hunter Now, were also included in the deal, raising concerns about how users’ location data will be managed.
Pokémon GO is known for its real-time and live game feature where players can roam around in their present area to catch gems and new characters. Given its instantaneous tracking for location, gameplay, and advertising, it was reported that the business deal could potentially give the new owners more control in retrieving sensitive data, sparking users’ privacy debates.
Niantic CEO John Hanke felt optimistic, however, and shared, “Niantic games have always been a bridge to connect people and inspire exploration, and I am confident they will continue to do both as part of Scopely.” He added, “Scopely shares our focus on building and operating incredible live services, has exceptional experience working with the world’s biggest and most beloved intellectual properties, and cares deeply about its player communities and game-making teams.”
Concerns that Pokémon Go and the other recently acquired games may see significant pay-to-win features and increasing monetization techniques have also been raised by Scopely’s history of aggressive monetization, which is reportedly obvious in another game they have developed, namely, Monopoly GO.
While gamers have said that this possible data-breach risk is nothing new, others supported this claim and raised that governments worldwide were only going to continue this doing.
As per the Middle East Monitor, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) will receive location data for each of the 30 million monthly users that purchase the game. Critics have raised their concerns that the agreement would give the country access to AI mapping data, which is reported to enable the development of a “large geospatial model.”
The investment is further made controversial due to Saudi’s appalling human rights record, and has been long accused of “games washing” to improve their reputation amidst the aforementioned allegations.
In light of this, Prime Minister Moahammed bin Salman had mentioned back in 2023 that he did not feel troubled with the accusations of sportswashing, voicing, “If sportswashing is going to increase my GDP by way of one percent, then I will continue doing sportswashing. I don’t care.” Thus, Niantic becomes an addition in the long line of Saudi gaming investments.
Other POP! stories you might like:
Nintendo and Pokémon Company sue ‘Palworld’ creator, alleging patent infringement
Kim Sae-ron’s AI-generated memorial video prompts fans to come to the late actress’s defense
Social media buzzes over the alleged leak of Kitty Duterte’s private Instagram stories
